Educational game



May 11 1926.

. R. MAYHEW EDUCATIONAL GAME Filed Sept. 10, 1925 IN VEN TOR 1 BY f ATTORNEY 'eralpersons, as may be found convenient.

I vide a relative'l Patented May 11, 1926.

RALPH MAYHEW, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

EDULCATIONAL GAMlb Application filed September 10, 1925. Serial No. 55,482.

This invention relates generally to a I me of a type having characteristicsthat wi 1 appeal to mature players having well-trained and intellectually activesninds as well as to youn er and more immature players, and whi can be played and enjoyed by one personplaying singly or by a group of sev- The invention includes the provision of a plurality of dice-like cubes or playing pieces having their various faces or surfaces provided either with letters of the alphabet as at 14 or left blank as at 15, the respective lettered and blank surfaces being so arranged with relation to each other as to progreat prob-ability that a word may be formed of the letters displa ed when the laying pieces are shaken toget er in a dice ox and thrown. In order to still further increase the word-forming probabilities or characteristics of the letters dis-- played in any given throw, the letters employed have been selected because, among all the letters in the alphabet, the particular letters chosen are capable of producing, in combination with each other, the greatest possible number of words.

While the number of pla ing pieces in a set is not a vital feature of t e invention and may be'varied within reasonable limits, I have found that five ieces form a convenient number since wor s of five letters or less may be thereby found. In arranging the letters on the various pieces it has been found desirable to place on each individual piece letters not likely to be associated together to form words and, on the other hand, to lace on different pieces in the set letters which are likely to combine with letters on other pieces to form words. Vowels and consonants are distributed throughout the set of pieces with a like purterest isradd ed by employing apredominance pose in view, that is, to provide a suitable relative dis ositio-n of vowels and consonants to natural produce Words. Further in- Qof vowel letters on certain of the pieces while consonant letters occupy the greater number of places onthe remaining pieces.

5lb In order to produce words having fewer than the full'number of five letters, certain of the pieces are each provided with one blank face. With this arrangement it is possible to throw the pieces to produce two, three, or four letter words as well as words of five letters.

- 'vide for this,

It will seen that'the described game has the attractiveness provided by the element of chance entering into the display at random of letters appearing on the upper. surface of the thrownpieces.

- The exercises-of skill onthe"- part of the players is also taken into account and to prop the course ofplay preferably includes a plurallty of throws of the pieces by each player in turn, the added throws being performed with onl such pieces as the player deems best for t e purpose of building up or adding to a partially and pre viously formed word. it will be seen that there 1s opportunity for the employment of udgment and skill in the selection ofethe pleces which are to be re-thrown.

In the drawings, in which a preferred embodlment of the invention has been selected for illustration.

Figure 1 is a perspective view illustrating a play performed with a set of game pieces embodying the invention.

Figures 2 to 6 are diagrammatic or development views showing the arrangement of letters on the faces of the respective game. pleces constituting the set.

Referring to the drawing for a more detailed description of the invention, in Fig: ure 1 is shown a set of playing pieces 10 in the act of being thrown from a box 11 in which they were shaken. The pieces are bemg received on a table top 12 on which rests a cover member 13 for the shaker box 11.

A feature of the invention resides in providing the individual game pieces of the set 10 with letters'of the alphabet so chosen or selected that the letters appearing on the upper surfaces of the pieces when thrown are likely to form a part or the whole of the word. Certain of the game piece faces are left blank to facilitate the compounding of words of fewer letters than the number of pieces making up the game set.- An example of a play resulting from this arrange ment is shown in Figure 1 in which the-fourletter word game is displayed by thev five game pieces, one of the display surfaces showing a blank. i

Both consonant and vowel letters appear on each piece, although the pieces illustrated in Figures 2 and 5 predominantly display vowel letters while the letters shown on the pieces shown in Figures 3, 4 and 6 are predominantly consonants; It will also benoted that the piece shown in Figure 2 displays a letter on each of its six faces, while the remaining four pieces illustrated have each one blank face or surface 14. This arrangement facilitates the formation of words containing less than five letters, as has already been pointed out.

The letters chosen for use'are the letters of the alphabet from which the greatest number of words can be formed, and, to further facilitate the formation of words, the letters on the various pieces are arranged so that they are likely to produce worklforming combina ions with the letters on other pieces.

It will be clear that different methods of play may be resorted to but the following method of play has been found to give satisfaction in actual practice and is therefere set forth as an example:

The first player shakes the pleces in the box and throws them on the table. If the letters on the upper faces of the blocks cannot be grouped to form a word, the player may pick up one or more of the blocks or pieces for another throw, leaving on the table such pieces as he thinks are most likely to group well with others he may receive as a result of another throw. If, after the additional throw, the letters then appearing on the upper faces of the pieces cannot be grouped to form a word, the player may again pick up one or more pieces and throw them again. He may have two more such throws, if desired, five throws in all.

The second player follows and plays in like manner, and the other players follow in turn, but no player may have more throws than were taken by the first player.

After all the players have thus played, the one who formed a word having the most letters in the fewest throws wins one point. If two or more are tied in doing so, the one making the longest word in the fewest throws wins the point. If two or more are tied in making the longest word in the fewest throws, each tied player wins a point.

It will be seen that the game described involves both chance and skill and is adapted to provide entertainment either for children or for players of more mature years.

One of the important advantages derived from the use of the set of my improved playing-piecesis the possibility of throwing a vast number of the words in the dictiona of five letters or less, and in a comparative y brief time, and this is accomplished by virtue of the following facts and characteristics; three or more of the pieces have one blank face, the remaining faces being provided with vowel or consonant letters, all the consonants being employed exce t a few which occur in words with the east frequenc such as J, K, Q, V, X, Y, Z, and some ing employed twice, such as S and R,

and all of the vowels being employed and some of'them twice, such as I and 0, some three times, such as A and E the consonants being placed so that those occurring to ether frequently in words are located on di erent pieces, such as M and R in more, mere etc; the consonants being also placed so that those occurring frequently in words without a vowel between them are on different ieces, such'as S and H, C and L, N and D, and L, P and R, etc.; and the vowels being placed so that those occurring frequently in words without a consonant between them' are on different pieces, such vowels being E and A A and I, O and O, O and A, etc.- In adopting this arrangement, an effort has been made to plan the pieces so as to make it ssible to throw a very high percentage 0 all possible words of five letters or less and to make a fast and pleasing game.

What I claim 1s:

1. A game comprising a set of dice-like playing pieces five in number, one face of two of said pieces each bearing a vowel, two faces of one other piece each bearing a vowel, three faces of another piece each bearing a vowel, four faces of the fifth piece each hearing a vowel, a majority of' said pieces each having a blank face, and theiemaming faces of all said pieces each bearing a consonant, the said letters being selected in accordance with the well known frequency of their occurrence in words composed of five letters.

2. A game comprising a. set of five dicelike playing pieces certain faces of which bear consonant or vowel letters while others remain blank and having the following characteristics; three or more of said ieces have one blank-face, the remaining aces bein provided with vowel or consonant letters, a the consonants being employed except a few which occur in words with the least frequency such as J, K, Q, V, X, Y, Z, and some being employed twice such as S and R, and all the vowels being employed and some of them twice such as I and O, and some three times such as A and E; the consonants being placed so that those occurring frequently in words without a vowel between them are on different geces such as S and H, O and H, N and D, and L, P and R, etc, and th said vowels being placed so that those occurring frequently in words without a consonant between them are on different pieces such as E and A, A and I,

- O and O, O and A, etc., and all the said let- RALPH MAYHEW. 

